A statement from scientists has
highlighted that improving the understanding of COVID-19 infections in children
will help researchers to develop better treatments.
Researchers have emphasised that
understanding how the COVID-19 coronavirus affects children is critical to limiting the
disease’s spread and ensuring that the appropriate treatments can be identified
and developed.
The statement comes from Dr Steven Zeichner, head of the
University of Virginia Health’s Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and
Dr Andrea Cruz, a paediatric emergency medicine physician at Houston’s Baylor
College of Medicine, both US. Their comment accompanies a new article that
analyses why only a small percentage of infected children become seriously
ill.
“Many infectious diseases affect children differently than
adults and understanding those differences can yield important insights,†the
authors write. “This will likely be true for COVID-19, just as it was for older
infectious diseases.â€
Zeichner and Cruz note that there are subgroups of children who
appear to be at greater risk of COVID-19 complications, particularly those who
are younger, immunocompromised or have other pulmonary health problems.
However, the presence of other viral infections in up to
two-thirds of childhood coronavirus cases makes it very difficult to assess the
true effect of COVID-19 on children, they state. This figure is based on prior
studies of children with coronaviruses detectable in the respiratory tract.
While much remains unknown, Cruz and Zeichner caution that
children, even asymptomatic children, could play a “major role†in disease
transmission. For example, they cite a study that found the virus remained in
children’s stool for several weeks after diagnosis. Combined with other routes
of transmission such as nasal secretions, this could pose a major challenge for
preventing the further spread of the disease and for adapting treatments
accordingly.
“Since many children infected with COVID-19 appear to have have
mild symptoms or even no symptoms at all, it is important to practice all the
social distancing, hygiene and other precautions being recommended by public
health authorities to mizzen transmission from children to others, including
family members who may be at greater risk from the infection, such as
grandparents or family members with chronic medical conditions,†said Zeichner,
who is working on innovative potential COVID-19 vaccines in his lab. “In
addition, studies of the reasons why children are affected differently than
adults by the infection may yield insights that can be helpful in understanding
the disease and ways to treat or prevent it.â€
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